Talks fail to put Mideast peace plan back on track
Representatives of Hamas and other militant groups meeting in Gaza said they had demanded international guarantees for a halt to Israeli military strikes on their leaders before they would agree to stop their own attacks on Israelis.
But Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told members of his rightist Likud party in Jerusalem: “As long as the Palestinians don't fight terror...Israel will continue to hit at the terrorists and terror organisations.”
Mr Sharon later sat expressionless during a stormy session of parliament while opposition lawmakers on the left accused him of intentionally undermining the road map and legislators from the far right chided him for accepting the plan at all.
Militants said the Egyptian delegation, which wrapped up two days of meetings yesterday, had offered to resume talks in Cairo and that the proposal was under consideration.
A surge of violence since a June 4 peace summit attended by US President George W Bush, Mr Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has jeopardised the road map affirmed at the gathering in Aqaba, Jordan.
The bloodshed has included the killing of four Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip, a Hamas suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus in which 17 died and Israeli air attacks that have killed more than 20 Palestinian militants and civilians.
The Egyptian-led talks coincided with the first mission to the region by Mr Bush's new envoy, veteran diplomat John Wolf, to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders in an effort to put the peace plan back on track.
In parallel talks, Israeli and Palestinian security officials have been discussing possible Israeli troop withdrawals from the northern Gaza Strip and the West Bank city of Bethlehem in exchange for a Palestinian pledge to rein in militants in those areas.
Hamas has said it will cease attacking Israelis in a 32-month-old uprising for independence only when Israel ends its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
After three hours of meetings with the Egyptian delegation yesterday, there was little sign that Hamas and other militant groups spearheading armed resistance were ready to back down.
Senior Hamas leader Ismail Abu Shanab appeared to reject the idea of a unilateral ceasefire. “Cease-fire means surrender to occupation,” he said.
Ahmed Helles, secretary-general of the mainstream Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip, said: “In this meeting, there has been an exchange of views. The Egyptian delegation will go to their leadership in Egypt with our positions.”
Israel has put new pressure on Hamas by pledging to strike at its leaders, backing up its threats by wounding one of Hamas's best-known spokesmen, Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, in a helicopter missile attack in Gaza last Tuesday.
Hamas officials said they remained opposed to the peace plan, which calls for an end to violence and the reciprocal steps leading to a Palestinian state by 2005.
Israel repeated its demand for Mr Abbas to take the risky step of dismantling militant groups, as mandated by the road map, after any truce agreement. Mr Abbas has resisted confronting the militants, fearing a possible Palestinian civil war.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
